I've had funky dreams the last few nights. One was about my dad, in which I found out that my mom had left him alone in my house (since when does my mom have control over who is in my house?), and I was aghast, sure that he was going to be irresponsible (leave doors unlocked? take stuff that didn't belong to him? whatever) and that he would treat my cats badly (let them get out, let their water dish run dry, whatever). I was horrified to think of him alone in my house. Weird, given how positive my relationship with him was by the time he died. But, admittedly, he was pretty much an irresponsible prick most of my life.

In that same dream, I was at the beach, and my mom was also there with one of my cousins, but they chose not to sit with me (I think I was there with Shannon), and instead had their towels on the sand quite far away. I was a little offended at this slight. And they were all pissy that they had to walk all the way down the beach to tell me about my dad, because I didn't have a cell phone with me. The nerve of someone, going to the beach without a cell phone!

This dream was kind of unusual for me, because most of my dreams involve trying to find people/things, solve problems/puzzles, etc. For some reason, my most common dream involves trying to find my dorm room in some unfamiliar dorm building on an unfamiliar university campus. Often, I can't remember the number of my dorm room, or I can't find the dorm building in the first place, or I go where I think my room is but there are other people there, or someone is sleeping in the bed that is supposed to be mine. I haven't lived in a dorm in more than two decades -- why do I still dream about them? Weird. I wonder what this means.

Another common dream for me involves trying to find my brother, who is lost and/or in trouble. Usually, in the dreams, he is a kid, rather than the 40-year-old man he is now. In the dreams, I know I am the only person who can help him.

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In other news, our guest cat (Tai Chi, my SIL Melody's cat, who looks like a Cobweb clone) is visiting again. He seems to be quite comfortable in our house these days, after staying with us a couple weeks out of the year for the past few years. Cobweb barely seems to notice that he's here, but Munchkin is hissing a bit. Tai Chi is just roaming around, hanging out in the family room, and looking out the windows. Anytime I try to talk to him or get his attention, though, he runs away. "You're not my mom!"